DECLINING DEMOCRACIES, CONSPIRACY THEORIES AND POPULISMS: A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF EXTREME-RIGHT THOUGHT IN BRAZIL AND THE UNITED STATES

Abstract

The increase in the extreme right around the planet calls for more accurate studies to understand the theoretical foundations that guide its parties and movements. Bolsonarism and Trumpism, whose example the Brazilian movement seeks to emulate, rely, to a large extent, on socalled conspiracy theories as an effective method of mobilizing broad segments of the electorate while serving as an attractive appeal in the fight against the legitimacy of democratic institutions. Conspiracy theories, of which The Protocols of the Elders of Zion is a classic example, have recently received extraordinary impetus from the idea that a Deep State operates in the shadows of the powers that be to undermine the popular will in the public arena. Using a review of the literature on the subject, this article aims to critically analyze how conspiracy theories permeate the political thinking of Bolsonarism and Trumpism. Our main conclusion suggests that conspiracy theories assume an essential status in the constitution of the hard core of political thought of the American and Brazilian extreme right, serving simultaneously to try to delegitimize democratic institutions and their political elites by anathematizing them, as well as to maintain the collective cohesion of the aforementioned parties and movements appealing to fear and popular dissatisfaction in the face of presumed internal and external threats.